Despite Colleges' Efforts, Brands Can Escape Their Bounds

A worker in the Tervis factory in North Venice, Fla., prepares Syracuse U. tumblers for shipping. Tervis offers its insulated tumblers with licensed logos from hundreds of different colleges.

By Julia Love

The name "Stanford University" has been used to sell everything
from face cream to fertilizer.

Many companies try to woo consumers by touting Stanford
researchers' contributions to their products. The problem is that
Stanford had nothing to do with them—the companies in question are
hijacking the university's brand to enrich their own.

Lisa Lapin, associate vice president for university
communications at Stanford, has to devote more and more of her time
to striking down